Search This Blog

MOD Fear Factor Team

After signing the contract for the Tutong District Masterplan yesterday, we headed towards Ukong. Ukong has a speciality which we feel can be developed further under the district masterplan. Ukong is the home to the only Ambulong Factory left in Brunei. Ambulong or sagu is the flour which we make our local delicay 'ambuyat' from. I have a whole bunch of photographs of the visit to the factory. But the most interesting was not the ambulong factory. The most interesting is the live creatures that lived in the trunk of the ambulong trees - drum rolls.......... the maggots!

These maggots known as Utod in Dusun language is edible. And of course no visit could be made to the factory without tasting the edible maggots would be complete. So the challenge to our team yesterday was who could eat these maggots.

The maggots lived in the tree trunk. So once the tree trunks are peeled, the maggots are exposed and can now be harvested.

The maggots are very fat. Their diet consist entirely of the tree trunk of the rumbia. They looked like any maggot that you probably know. I am not sure what insect these maggots belong to.

You have a choice. Maggots can be eaten raw like what this worker is doing. He said it is very delicious. At this point, none of the team dare tried it yet.

We prefer it cooked. Or rather we prefer to prolong the agony and delay the process of actually eating it. These maggots are washed under cold water. They are still alive and wriggling.

The maggots are cooked or rather fried in a frying pan. No cooking oil is required. What the lady did was to take the maggot with a pair of scissors and nip the stomach of the maggot. A yellowish fluid oozed out and that became the oil.

By now, the number of maggots in the frying pan has increased and so has the amount of 'oil' in the frying pan. It looked as if they are being cooked in a gravy.

The maggots are fried until they are relatively dried.

One of our brave officers trying the cooked maggot. It is actually very tasty but we all have to get over our psychological fear of eating maggots.

Another brave officer.

Even the young officers are game. By now everyone has tasted it and we are all eating the maggots like pros.

Our brave male officer. It is said that the maggots beat tongkat ali and can easily challenged viagra. We are not sure whether it is the cooked one or raw one which does the trick.The fluid which became the cooking oil turned into paste and this tasted much better than the maggots.

DESPITE first making its appearance in the Sultanate during the 1940s, Kuih Mor continues to be a household favourite today as a tea time snack or festive treat particularly during Hari Raya Aidil Fitri.

Siti Norhafizah Hj Bagol, a final year student at Universiti Brunei Darussalam who researched on Kuih Mor as part of her Brunei Traditional Industry module, said the three-ingredient sweet treat may have existed in Brunei as early as the 1940s when padi was known to have been grown to make different food items.

Over time, the cookie has also become a popular door-gift choice often handed out at Malay weddings or gatherings, said Siti Norhafizah.

Made with flour, oil and granulated sugar which have been ground into a powder, the bite-sized biscuits have a crumbly texture and are coated with powdered sugar.

The age-old technique of making Kuih Mor by hand has however changed over the course of time, with many now opt…

BY COMMAND of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the Prime Minister’s Office hereby announces that His Majesty has consented to the transfer and appointment of the following senior officers – Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Juanda bin Haji Abdul Rashid, Permanent Secretary (Law and Welfare) at the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau and Solicitor General has been transferred to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports; and Datin Elinda binti Haji CA Mohamed, Special Senior Duties Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs has been appointed as Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office and Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau.